The invention relates to a labeling device for a thermoforming system. The invention relates further to a method for operating an inventive labeling device.
Such a labeling device as a component of a thermoforming system is known from the German patent specification DE 195 35 033 B4 of the applicant. In the case of said known labeling device, a label is supplied to each mold of a molding device, said label being reeled off from a label reel assigned to the respective mold and being separated from the label reel by a cutting device in the region of a drum-like transfer device for transferring the label to the mold. Particularly in the case of thermoforming systems which comprise a relatively large number of molds, for example more than ten molds, a labeling device according to the prior art is relatively complex and of sophisticated construction because said device requires a plurality of cutting devices and a plurality of labeling feeds or, respectively, label reels. The space requirements are furthermore relatively large due to the cutting devices, in particular in the region of the transfer devices for transferring the labels to the molds. In addition, all of the supply devices for the label reels require a corresponding effort and expense, in particular the changing of the label reels.